"Successful compliance testing by licensees is an important step in the
process for bringing product to the marketplace," said Cindy Grossman, VP,
Tape and Archive Systems, IBM Corp. "The LTO Ultrium format is the data
protection tape technology of choice because it provides a powerful,
scalable, adaptable open format and the new generation 5 specifications call
for exciting features to address the growing needs of various customer
segments.

The LTO Program requires that all licensees pass a series of compliance
verification involving rigorous data interchangeability testing prior to
being issued a license to use the LTO Ultrium trademark. Compliance testing
of LTO products is performed annually to confirm that all manufacturers are
adhering to the Ultrium format specifications. Buyers seeking Ultrium
format-compliant products look for the LTO Ultrium format trademark logo on
both tape drives and data cartridges when reviewing backup and archiving
solutions.

The
LTO Program recently released specifications and new feature details for its
upcoming generation 5, calling for a storage capacity increase up to 3TB
(assuming 2:1 compression) -- nearly doubling the capacity from 800GB to
1.5TB uncompressed over the previous generation -- and transfer rates of up
to 280MB per second (assuming 2:1 compression).

The LTO Ultrium format
generation 5 plans include new partitioning functionality enabling
capabilities that can help enhance file control and space management,
addressing the growing needs of marketplace segments such as Rich Media.
More information on this highly- anticipated technology will be forthcoming
later this year.The LTO
Ultrium format generation 5 drives are designed with backwards-compatible
read-and-write capability with the Ultrium format generation 4 cartridges,
and backward read capabilities with generation 3 cartridges, helping to
protect investments and ease implementation.